Snow laden
By
Swati Singh Sambyal
“The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event.
You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite
different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be
found?” This quote by J.B Priestley perfectly sums up the
expression snow.
I would like to term snow as an expression because it invokes in
us feelings. Some may relate to snow as a memory; that eventful
kiss or separation or a nostalgia struck moment with somebody.
While some may relate to it as the advent of magic- doesn’t
everything looks whimsical and dream-like when it snows? And
some find the after snow time gloomy and depressing. Snow is
an expression of happiness and sadness. Many philosophers,
poets, painters and artists have woven some of their best works
witnessing snow.
I love snow. I am not that privileged in terms of my location to
witness snow but I tried to make something possible for myself
this winter. I wanted to write about snow. But how do you write
about snow without ever witnessing it. I found a way out. I asked
friends, people distant to send me their pictures of snowfall. Most
of them were beautiful pictures. Of leaves covered with snow; of
snow-laden branches; of cars and almost everything in snow- all
white and pristine. The next job was to weave a person in my
head. Somebody who is wandering in snow and weaving lines,
somebody who is leaving footprints behind in the whiteness of it.
And I found my ‘somebody’: a traveller who is walking in snow in
different parts of the globe and penning down his thoughts. No
specific reason why I wanted my protagonist to be a ‘HE’. But this
time a ‘HE’ suited well to the theme. The pictures are from
Norway. I thank the ones who did efforts to send me these. And
the traveller ‘me’ writes on the following pages….
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